Rebel Vintners

Rebel Vintners opened their tasting room in the heart of downtown Napa in early May 2018. This prime space is located on the corner of Coombs and 1st Street within easy walking distance of two 1st Street anchor hotels, Andaz and the Archer as well as within close proximity of numerous highly regarded restaurants and other tasting rooms. Making full use of this corner location, a liberal use of windows allows those walking or driving by to easily see inside the tasting room.

This space is a partnership between three vintners, Jason Holman of Holman Cellars, Timothy Keith of Leaf & Vine Winery and Kevin Cadle of Cadle Family Wines. All three are owners and winemakers and as Kevin told us “We do most everything ourselves” – such is the case when one is running a boutique winery. Each vintner makes their wine in the city of Napa in one of the several industrial/business parks surrounding the city. None of these vintners own their own vineyards. And while all are making their wine in Napa Valley many of their wines are sourced from other parts of California.

All are producing wines from a diversity of varieties; these are small lot intriguing wines which are reasonably priced.

Leaf and Vine is a father son partnership between Tim Keith (the winemaker) and his father Rick. The winery was founded in 2010 and focuses on single vineyard, single varietal wines from not only the Napa Valley but other regions within Northern California. Tim grew up in Oregon but was familiar with Napa Valley from a young age as he and his siblings would spend parts of their summers on their grandfather’s Bar 49 Ranch in Chiles Valley (now home of Maxville Lake Winery).

In the winery, his style is fairly minimalist – fermenting with non-inoculated yeasts (indigenous) and bottling the wines unfined and unfiltered. He tends to age his wines up to 30 months in barrel and then another year in bottle before releasing.

Holman Cellars was founded in 2010 by Jason and his wife at the time, Helen Holman. Their path to owning a winery in the Napa Valley is an interesting one. Both met on their first day attending law school in Seattle. Jason is the winemaker, but it was Helen’s family who is responsible for his second career after he retired from law. Helen’s uncle is long time Napa vintner John Kongsgaard who ultimately mentored Jason during his early winemaking career. Holman Cellars produces several labels including the brand, Uncharted.

Jason began making home wine in a old barn in Coombsville located a short drive east of the city of Napa in 2008 and 2009 and then transitioned to commercial production in 2010. His total annual production is merely 500 cases and only a few barrels are usually produced of each wine. Holman Cellars tends to age their reds for 36 months in barrel including some new but most once or twice used oak. As a result, current releases are often up to 4 years old.

Cadle Family Wines was founded by Kevin Cadle; for those who come to winemaking without growing up in the industry, we have noticed that there is no norm on how one gets started in the business. For Kevin, he traveled the world and taught English as an international schoolteacher ultimately ending up in Curacao in the ABC islands of the southern Caribbean. While there he became fascinated about wine, certainly not a hotbed for vineyards, although the island was home more recently to a winery. Eventually he moved to California and earned his master’s degree in viticulture and enology from the University of California at Davis. The combination of earning his degree and working at premium wineries in the Napa Valley provided him the tools and inspiration to begin his own label.

Because these vintners are sourcing grapes from a variety of sites throughout the state, the diversity of wines available for visitors to taste is enticing. With few exceptions, the focus of all three vintners is on single varietal, single vineyard wines.

Select Wines
Leaf & Vine
The few Napa Valley based producers who craft wine from Albariño often source grapes outside of the county. There is not much Albariño in Napa Valley; four sites we are aware of that grow this variety include Stewart Ranch next to Highway 29 just south of the city of Napa, Artesa on the Napa side of the Carneros District, on V Sattui’s Hibbard Ranch in the deep end of Carneros and a hillside planting in Deer Park owned by Fleury Winery. The 2021 Leaf & Vine Lodi Albariño, Terra Alta Vineyard is medium to deep gold in color; the pretty bouquet is sweetly fruited with some citrus influences in its aromatic approach. It offers scents of mandarin, tangerine, an orange zest, honeycomb, apricot, ripe yellow peach, mango, vanilla, caramel and brown sugar. The palate is soft and features a rounded texture and echoes some of the aromas as flavors including mandarin, apricot, honeycomb along with apple and pear. This wine lingers brightly with a rich long-lasting and ripe fruit-filled finish. It drinks very nicely by itself.

The 2019 Leaf & Vine Napa Valley Chardonnay, Buhman Vineyard was fermented in a combination of stainless steel tank and oak barrels. This vineyard is in Carneros and is owned by the long time in Napa Valley, Buhman family, perhaps most locally known for their cattle which was one of their original businesses before they ventured into wine. This bottling was then aged for 7 months in tank. This wine is deep gold in color; its aromatics are powerful, diverse and well-layered. It offers plenty of tropical scents including both floral and of fruit. Mango, baked apple, pear, papaya, honeycomb, caramel, vanilla, melted butter, crème Brule and citrus blossom all make for a very enticing and richly endowed bouquet. Deep in the aromatics is a subtle note of fresh pine branch. The palate is rounded and slightly creamy in its textural approach, complemented by flavors of ripe pear, apple, mango, an orange zest nd honeycomb. This wine finishes with a persistent richness and a lingering slight warmth of alcohol.

The 2014 Leaf & Vine Carneros Chardonnay is golden yellow in the glass. From the bouquet, one quickly recognizes this is a unique Napa Valley Chardonnay. Certainly distinctive, presumably one could quickly pick this out of a lineup of traditionally made Napa Valley Chardonnays. This bottling shows aromas of hazelnut, browned sugar, cooked pear, kumquat/orange peel, dessert spices and tropical fruit. A pleasing roundness is immediately noticeable on the palate. Shows intense flavor and character complemented nicely with acidity which is especially noticeable on the finish. The intensity and flavor of the fruit may trick one into thinking this wine has some residual sugar, but in reality, there was none left after fermentation. This is a highly unique Chardonnay worth seeking out.

The 2019 Leaf & Vine Leaf & Vine Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, Quail Ridge Coombsville was fermented using existing yeast on the grape skins in open top oak fermenters. After the fermentation was completed it spent another 10 days soaking on the skins. This wine was then aged for 34 months in neutral French oak barrels. This wine is dark ruby, purplish and very opaque; the aromatics are Napaesque for this variety offering scents of dark chocolate, chocolate brownie, Graham cracker, mocha and ripe dark fruit including blackberry and boysenberry. This wine smells like dessert, or like the kitchen during winter holidays at our aunt’s house when she was in a particularly energetic mood for baking. As compared to the bouquet, the palate is surprisingly savory and somewhat briary, offering flavors of plum, blackberry and crushed black pepper. It’s texture is a noteworthy aspect, felt immediately and lasting the length of the palate – showing chalky, dusty, drying and savory tannins which continue to persist for quite some time, ultimately outpacing the fruit.

The 2013 Leaf & Vine Napa Valley Merlot is from Napa’s least known appellation and one we rarely see wines from – Wild Horse Valley. Along with Carneros, it is one of Napa’s only two sub appellations to encompass part of two counties, Carneros in both Napa and Sonoma and Wild Horse Valley in both Napa and Solano County. This wine is highly aromatic showing bright fruit with notes of red cherry, dust and mocha. It is very approachable and shows a red core of fruit across the palate. Well integrated tannins anchor a long finish.

One of their more popular wines is the Quartz Block Zinfandel from Amador County and is one of the vineyards that Tim has been working with almost from the very beginning of Leaf & Vine. These vines are dry farmed and historically are harvested around the same time each year. After several years of drought and a very hot vintage, the grapes were ready and harvested earlier than normal in 2013 – in early September. Tim enjoys the brambly characteristics this variety often shows.

The 2013 Leaf & Vine Zinfandel offers sweet aromas of raspberry and cherry liqueur with a kiss of toasted oak influence including notes of mocha. It is ripe yet retains noticeable acidity. Somewhat tight tannins linger for quite some time.

Based on vineyard sources, Leaf & Vine also produces other wines from Napa Valley including an Atlas Peak Cabernet Sauvignon. Sometimes when special vineyard sources become available for whatever reason (located through Tim’s strong Napa winemaking network of friends), he will make one off wines such as an Oakville Cabernet and a sparkling wine, also from an Oakville.

Holman Cellars
The 2016 Holman Cellars Uncharted Skin Fermented Chenin Blanc Clarksburg. One immediately notices the color of this wine both from the age (7 years post vintage at the time of our tasting) and also due to its skin fermentation; it is deep golden/amber. The bouquet offers a wide diversity of aromas including marmalade, dried orange peel, overripe cantaloupe, toffee, coconut, toast and honeycomb. As the wine breathes it reveals more baking spice notes. The palate shows flavors of melon, papaya, peach, ginger, chamomile and honeycomb. This wine still shows a brightness from the acidity although the fruit has presumably developed additional characteristics beyond its youthful freshness from several years ago.

Jason tends to age his reds for 36 months in barrel including some new but most once or twice used oak. As a result, current releases are usually a minimum of 4 years old.

The 2016 Holman Cellars California Red Wine is medium to deep ruby in color; the bouquet is brooding offering meaty and savory characters including dried herbs, mushroom, grilled meats, forest floor, pipe tobacco, maybe even some tar, bramble, blackberry and dark plum. This is a bouquet with character and is a refreshing change of pace compared to the more fruit-forward Napa Valley red wines we often taste. The palate offers some of the similar savory characters found on the bouquet; it is dark fruited including plum accompanied by bright and energetic acidity, gravelly-textured but very well-integrated tannins and notes of crushed peppercorn and old cedar. This wine is drinking in a sweet spot, 7 years post vintage. Very food friendly. Bring on the BBQ please.

The 2010 Holman Cellars Uncharted Vineyard Blend is from a vineyard in Winters (Yolo County) – long time fruit orchard farmers grew their trees in the flatlands but never utilized their hillside land. They experimented with some grapevines from UC Davis – planted them, had success and soon planted out more of their hillside land to vines. Jason sources the grapes from their vineyards but he has complete control of how he wants his portion of their vineyard managed. This wine is composed of Syrah, Tempranillo and Viognier. The bouquet is very floral with aromatics influenced by the Syrah and the Viognier in particular. This bottling offers hints of white pepper on the nose. The palate shows delicious red fruit notably red cherry. The wine shows good concentration with decent structure anchoring the finish.

The 2010 Uncharted Red Wine is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc sourced from both Coombsville and Atlas Peak. The nose is showy and aromatically reveals pleasing notes of blackberry, cocoa and strawberry. This is the biggest of the three 2010 vintage wines we tried with robust tannins that initially show more in the front of the palate than on the finish.

Only 40 cases of the 2010 Fate was produced. Fate is a proprietary red blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. It shows fairly dark in the glass; the bouquet is lively, bright and very aromatic with an underlying component of spice showing including perhaps a hint of white pepper. The tannins are well integrated in the long finish. This is a exceptionally well balanced wine.

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The tasting room was formerly occupied by The Playful Garden, a specialty boutique store selling garden wall art and home decor items. Prior to this it was home to Doll Store & More. But this building’s history extends much earlier. It was built in 1914 as Napa’s first steel-and-concrete building. Known as the Native Sons of the Golden West building it was the tallest building in the city of Napa for 95 years. The Native Sons still maintain space on the second floor above the tasting room. The exterior and some of the interior of the building was badly damaged in the earthquake of 2014 but was repaired in the years following the quake.

The partners revitalized the interior creating a spacious and inviting environment. In the process of renovations, they removed ugly particle board and other layers revealing the original wooden floor.

Visitors can stop by without needing an appointment and taste at the bar or choose one of the sit-down options (tables). With a commercial kitchen on site and a strategic partnership with locally based Monday Bakery – they offer guests the options to taste with small bites, charcuterie and cheese plates and various baked goods.

And for those looking to imbibe in something other than wine, they also offer ciders on tap.

The tasting room changes its vibe somewhat after 5pm and becomes more like a wine bar and a lounge space – serving wines by the glass with games showing on the big screen opposite the wine bar. An old school gaming machine is available for anyone old enough who wants to relive their past gaming prowess with games such as Pac-Man, Frogger and Galaga. And for those looking to just hang out for a while, especially in the evening, order a bottle of wine and play one of the board games on site.

In a tasting room environment that is typically employee driven, it is refreshing to be able to taste with one of the owners (usually Tim, Jason or Kevin are here – although during harvest they may not be in the tasting room as often).

Two options are available through the Rebel Vintners wine club – a 6 bottle or a 12-bottle shipment annually. For more information visit: https://rebelvintners.com